A Year of Me

A New Me

2009-08-01T18:22:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I started this in January 2009 as a 365 for photography, but my camera broke (or really, I dropped it) and getting back into it was not as easy as I had hoped. Soooo....I'm now going to use this as my exercise & food & daily thoughts journal. Private, and just for me. and maybe my trainer, I'm not sure. I will search for a current picture as my starting point. My first major weight loss goal is to lose 10% or 37 pounds. I'd like to do it before Halloween, but we'll see. On July 18, I started CalFit's Body Fitness Challenge as a way to motivate me to get moving and change my ways (and because Karen Carr started doing it, it felt less intimidating). I have loved working with Miki, she challenges me and congratulates me. I need her right now. I even went to the gym by myself even with Timi essentially giving me permission not to go. I didn't give up on the Treadmill workout because I knew she had set the goals and I could do it. I did do it. 25 minutes, up to 14

My weight loss goals:
1) 349
2) 10% or 334
3) 299

My plan:
Reduce fast food. No more double quarter pounder with cheese, no large fries, no McDonald's hashbrowns (or anyone's, really). Single or double cheese burger with no mayo, small fries - if I have to have them. Really waiting until I get home to eat. We have lots of choices.

Eat more vegetables. Eat from the garden.

Exercise regularly like my life depends on it, be it does. But, the fatalistic approach has never really worked for me. So really, I'm going to excercise because I want to. I feel strong doing it.

Exercise hard. No wimpy walking at 2.5 mph, I must push myself with a plan and work out goals. Talk with Miki about achieving these goals.

Eat treats in moderation. Have a taste, not the whole thing. But nothing is off limits. Remember how awful it feels after eating a lot of sugar....tired, diarreah, just plain icky.

91/365

2009-04-10T20:48:00.001-07:00

You can't see it, but K has a "fluff" on his fingertip.
(can you see those catchlights....look closely...you'll see yours truly)

90/365

2009-04-09T20:51:00.000-07:00

Yea for sidewalk chalk!

89/365

2009-04-08T20:15:00.000-07:00

My helper...

88/365

2009-04-07T06:31:00.003-07:00

More backyard visitors....

87/365

2009-04-07T06:31:00.001-07:00

84/365

2009-04-05T19:03:00.001-07:00

83/365

2009-04-02T18:48:00.001-07:00

My first play with textures.

Play with Carly's Chocolate Conversion. I LOVE THIS!

82/365

2009-04-01T10:50:00.001-07:00

81/365

2009-03-31T16:56:00.001-07:00

K's first mango pit!

80/365

2009-03-31T06:56:00.001-07:00

More Homework - Architecture at Night

79/365

2009-03-31T06:54:00.001-07:00

Homework for class.....Light Painting

78/365

2009-03-29T15:31:00.000-07:00

Why all the chocolate? Cookies, of course!!!

77/365

2009-03-28T07:40:00.001-07:00

Ahhhh.....more chocolate

76/365

2009-03-28T07:39:00.001-07:00

Chocolate - these are divine

75/365

2009-03-28T07:38:00.001-07:00

74/365

2009-03-28T07:37:00.000-07:00

My budding photog...

73/365

2009-03-24T16:13:00.001-07:00

He loves his garbage truck....new from grandma.

72/365

2009-03-23T16:26:00.001-07:00

New backpack!!!!

71/365

2009-03-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

Look who's come to visit!

70/365

2009-03-21T07:07:00.001-07:00

My gardener....

69/365

2009-03-20T12:41:00.001-07:00

Perspective...

taken from the inside of a playhouse at our local park. Funny...I've noticed this before.

68/365

2009-03-19T05:27:00.001-07:00

Self-Portrait

67/365

2009-03-17T19:56:00.001-07:00

My first attempt at cutting K's hair...not too bad, if I may say so myself!

Before:

After:

66/365

2009-03-16T19:41:00.000-07:00

Spring Chicken? We have these guys roaming all over the place by my office. This is the only one that would stand still today.

65/365

2009-03-14T21:00:00.000-07:00

My sleeping beauty...

64/365

2009-03-13T10:06:00.001-07:00

The Project...

Before...

During...

The goal - to turn an overgrown rose bed into a productive spring/summer garden.

63/365

2009-03-12T17:32:00.001-07:00

More Signs of Spring....

62/365

2009-03-11T18:28:00.000-07:00

Better exposure...

Wow...those first blooms were awfully dark. I'm having to get back in the swing of things :-)

61/365

2009-03-10T17:22:00.001-07:00

Spring time fun....

60/365

2009-03-09T22:41:00.000-07:00

Yea!!! I'm back....and so is spring.

I really had no idea how much I missed my camera. I got it back tonight and started snapping away at the spring buds that have burst all over our yard.

58/365

2009-02-28T19:08:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday....to me!

Sorry for the crappy picture! I can't wait to get my camera back!!!!!

51/365

2009-02-22T07:18:00.001-08:00

Allie, again....

50/365

2009-02-21T21:43:00.001-08:00

More of my sweet neice...

49/365

2009-02-20T16:17:00.001-08:00

Just playing around since my camera won't be back for awhile....

47/365

2009-02-18T08:09:00.001-08:00

Kid with a camera....here's what happens when your 3 yr old gets ahold of the camera. (this, plus 100 OOF random pics of the wall, floor and dog).

46/365

2009-02-16T20:25:00.002-08:00

More homework....

Working on reciprocity and exposure. Had some fun PP with Coffeeshop Actions.

Camera Update: I had to borrow my friend's Nikon to do my homework, but my 365's for the next couple weeks will be with my P&S. The AutoFocus is shot! The AutoFocus is important. This sucks. So....I decided to send it to Canon and get it fixed. It should be about 2 wks and a couple hundred $$$. But, that's a better option than going without AF and waiting for the many months it will take me to save up for a replacement or upgrade <>

44/365

2009-02-14T17:50:00.001-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day No word on the camera until Monday when the technician comes in to the shop.

Please send good thoughts.

43/365

2009-02-12T18:20:00.001-08:00

Broken.

I dropped my camera. It's bad. I'm going to the camera doctor tomorrow.
I hope it's not terminal.

42/365

2009-02-11T14:22:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day Party.....via preschool.

No time for PP today...just SOOC.

41/365

2009-02-10T20:42:00.001-08:00

Homework....

Our assignment was to shoot something from many differnt POV using technically correct composition. I chose a funky little climbing structure at the park.

40/365

2009-02-09T19:24:00.000-08:00

Moonset...on the way to work this morning...

One thing that has happened with this 365 is that I'm starting to "see" so much more. Things that I may have noticed before, were simply things I noticed, but didn't really appreciate. Now, I take my camera everywhere and capture so much more.

39/365

2009-02-08T12:42:00.001-08:00

Wonder...

38/365

2009-02-07T19:58:00.000-08:00

Friends....

37/365

2009-02-06T12:12:00.001-08:00

After the rain...

36/365

2009-02-05T19:13:00.001-08:00

Sick....

It was either a box of clean Kleenex or a trash can full of snotty ones. I chose the box.

35/365

2009-02-04T09:10:00.000-08:00

Good Morning.....

This is what we woke up to.

33/365

2009-02-02T20:04:00.000-08:00

Tired.... I soooo didn't want to get out the camera tonight. So, here's a shot from my home work for class. But...I'm trying to make it count so I did a little PP in CS4.

32/365

2009-02-01T12:34:00.000-08:00

Our weather has been fabulous! 60's and lots of sunshine...we really need rain, but I'm not complaining about keeping the umbrella in the closet, for now.

31/365

2009-01-31T20:55:00.000-08:00

Basketball fun.....

30/365

2009-01-30T18:19:00.000-08:00

The best seat in the house....

Yes, he's sitting on his dad's "seat."

29/365

2009-01-29T16:06:00.000-08:00

Pedicure.... My monthly treat.
I love how this photo makes it look like I just sit all day watching my son play while I rest with my feet up! (DH LOVES this capture...he always wonders what I do all day!)

28/365

2009-01-28T06:49:00.000-08:00

Happy 3rd Birthday to my little guy!

My attempt at "fire"

26/365

2009-01-26T19:10:00.001-08:00

Kainoa is working on pooping in the potty and has finally (fingers crossed) mastered it!

Tonight's reward was a sucker and 1/2 hr of Cail.lou.I had to upgrade to CS4! Sooooo much fun!!!

25/365

2009-01-25T17:41:00.000-08:00

The perfect Sunday....homemade playdough.

24/365

2009-01-24T19:16:00.001-08:00

Pretending....

The "Faux-Hawk"

23/365

2009-01-23T14:53:00.000-08:00

It's finally raining here...we need it so badly!

21/365

2009-01-21T18:26:00.001-08:00

Mama's little helper.....

I know it's dark, but the ones with flash weren't as cute and when I tried to lighten it, it just looked bad. Sorry.

20/365

2009-01-20T16:39:00.000-08:00

First day of school.... I'm taking my first photography class!

Tonight's the first night...yay!!

19/365

2009-01-19T13:18:00.001-08:00

A day off....

18/365

2009-01-18T15:49:00.000-08:00

The new bed....and Kainoa pretending to be asleep :-)
(pp'd with a little color pop and watercolor action)

17/365

2009-01-17T07:55:00.001-08:00

New nightlights....

On the leadup to Kainoa sleeping in his own bed, (long story...but the goal is to have him back in his own bed by his 3rd birthday...in 11 days) we went shopping for his new bedroom goodies. He picked out these very cool lights...a strand of lights, like christmas lights, in the shape of cars and stop lights!

16/365

2009-01-17T07:51:00.000-08:00

We spent a great deal of today trying to get a 3 yo picture of K since his bday is in two weeks.

Here's one of my favorites....

15/365

2009-01-15T10:47:00.001-08:00

In today's mail....

Three cases of Lu.na bars!

As a dou.la, I get any variety of Lu.na bars every quarter...a fun perk and a nice way that Lu.na supports pregnant and new moms.

(hmmmm.....I might have an addiciton....my last posts have all been about food....of course, it does sit still longer than DS)

14/365

2009-01-14T07:28:00.000-08:00

It's a good morning....

for more details about our day....go here.

13/365

2009-01-13T16:32:00.000-08:00

The Cookies....

12/365

2009-01-12T18:16:00.000-08:00

Tired....

Mondays just totally wipe me out....much like our dog. (I just wish I looked as cute curled up in bed).

11/365

2009-01-11T20:28:00.001-08:00

My DH does not like cookie dough!

How could I go almost 9 years and not know that??

Explaination of photo: (I make a bunch of cookie dough balls and freeze them so that when we want fresh cookies, I don't have to make dozens and dirty a million dishes)

10/365

2009-01-10T21:02:00.000-08:00

"Put Down the Camera....NOW!

9/365

2009-01-09T13:51:00.000-08:00

Tattoo #1

8/365

2009-01-08T19:34:00.000-08:00

I was on the phone with an old friend and K needed some attention. I turned around and found this.....K had somehow, in the span of about 30 seconds entangled both the dog and himself in curling ribbon.

7/365

2009-01-07T20:00:00.000-08:00

My wedding ring....

Not the original, but honestly....I love this one!!!

PP'd with a little Coffeeshop Rasp Tea

6/365

2009-01-06T15:22:00.000-08:00

My favorite snack! Other than chocolate, ice cream, a good homemade caramel.....Do you know how many chips I had to eat to get this shot?

5/365

2009-01-05T18:20:00.001-08:00

This was much easier when I was on vacation! Back to work today and I came home to find my little DS enjoying some chocolate. He told me he deserved it....LOL!

4/365

2009-01-04T17:20:00.000-08:00

What a great day! Today is our anniversary and we celebrated last night with a kid-free date...dinner and a movie and even coffee afterward, just to talk!!!! Today we celebrated with a trip to the snow. It was a gorgeous day and a tremendous amount of fun. Here's a "self-portrait" of my shadow in snow.

3/365

2009-01-03T12:27:00.000-08:00

Playing with my camera. One of my goals with this project is to learn my camera and not be afraid of shooting in Manual. So, today we have a gorgeous day...cold, but beautiful and DS found a bird's nest in our bare tree outside our living room. I thought...today, I'm going to tackle WB.

Here are two shots, SOOC. (except cropped and sized for the web)

AWB

(not too bad...could be saved in PP)Custom WB

(using the method described in my manual - kinda "swimming pool-ish")

A little PP and here's my final product:

(sharpen, adjust levels, remove color cast)

2/365

2009-01-03T01:40:00.001-08:00

Today was a big purchase day. Okay....not huge as in amounts of money, but huge as far as taking this self-portrait thing seriously. I bought an entry level remote and tripod! I had a gift card that has been burning a hole in my pocket and we had a field day!

1/365

2009-01-01T19:20:00.001-08:00

Welcome to day one. It's a new year and we're off and running.

I know the focus of this picture fell on the print of my shirt, but it's the best one. Self-portraits are hard! I spent a lot of time trying with my 50mm lens, but my arms just aren't long enough. I ended up using my kit lens and am pretty happy for a first try. I really have a lot to learn and figure out.

Here we go....

2008-12-30T12:35:00.000-08:00

The next posts will all be about me and developing my photography skills. Very seldom on my other blogs will you see me in the picture, let alone a self-portrait! (especially since I have such a cute--and usually willing--subject in my home)

Thanks for coming along on this adventure with me....enjoy the ride!

ETA: my eyebrows are really uneven! I just made an appointment with my wax lady.